TICM II Stretch The UK Thermal Imaging Common Module Class II Enhancement Programme

The philosophy of the U.K. Thermal Imaging Common Module programme, TICM, envisaged from the outset that future requirements that could not be met by using the basic module suite would be met by developing "stretched" or enhanced versions of the modules. The design of the system took that into account. The philosophy has been completely justified by the success of the many stretch programmes. In the ten years since the first class II imager was produced, the inventory of enhanced, "stretched" modules has grown to include higher sensitivity, improved spatial resolution, alternative line standards, reduced size, multi spectral variants and latterly an all digital version of the imager. This paper reviews those and other related stretch programmes.